Magical
by Esana Bridges
Summary: A GaLe oneshot based on Levy's love of reading. Nothing explicit, but some nice mush interactions. Storyline Copyright Esana Bridges 2012 Everything else - I bow to you, Hiro Mashima


**A/N**: My first Fairy Tail fic. Hopefully not my last. Oh and of course, lemme know what you think of this. Any OOCness? I love reviews ~ 3

**Publish Date:** 4/9/12

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"Magical"

"You're seriously going to buy all of these?" Gajeel leaned back so that he could see up the stack of books he was carrying more clearly. It was already almost half as tall as his companion, and most of the books were so thick and heavy, they felt more like blocks of iron instead of paper. _Although if I tried to eat these, I'd probably get a stomachache._ He hefted the load and peered around them at the petite blue-haired girl looking through the contents of a used-books store. "Where do you get the money? And where are you going to _put_ them?"

Levy McGarden ran her fingers lightly along the spine, a thin trail of dust following her finger. Absently, as she continued to look down the row, she replied, "Of course I'm going to buy them. We're in a used-books store. It's cheaper. And my room, of course. Ah!" Levy's eyes lighted on a slimmer volume than the one she had her hands on. She rushed towards it, almost knocking Gajeel over in the process. "Kemu Zaleon's first work!"

"Ah!" Gajeel grunted as Levy ran by, hitting her shoulder on the edge of a book. "Gah –" He staggered to the side. "Ah –" He ran into a bookshelf and stumbled to the other side, the huge stack of books wobbling. _Come on, come on – don't fall –_

_BOOM –_

…_Dammit._

"Oi!" Yelled the shopkeeper. "Careful with the merchandise!"

Pausing in the middle of her "Kemu Zaleon! Kemu Zaleon! Kemu Zaleon!" chant, Levy turned to frown at Gajeel. "Gajeel! You shouldn't treat books that way!"

…_Be nice. This is payback for beating her up. Be nice. Be nice._ Gajeel breathed deeply for several breaths, retrieving the fallen books and finally asked through gritted teeth, "Is that everything?"

Meanwhile, Levy had gone back to obsessing over her newfound love. "Yeah ~" She said, humming, as she skipped over to the pay counter. "I'll take all of these, Mister!"

"'Gotcha, Levy." The shopkeeper smiled at the girl and started to add up prices.

_Wow…_ Gajeel's eyes followed the price as it grew higher and higher. _This girl sure spends a lot of money on books. _He glanced at his companion, hugging the Kemu Zaleon work to her chest and smiling innocently. A small smile of his own appeared. _Probably explains why she's so small. Spent all her food money on books._ He grinned. That, he could imagine Levy doing.

The moment that they left the shop, Levy spun in a circle and held the book up to the sky before hugging it to her again.

Gajeel glanced at her, now carrying three very large boxes stacked full of books. "Makes you that happy, huh? To get a new book?"

"Of course," Levy said as they began to walk down the street. She looked down at the book fondly. "Books are amazing. They give you so much knowledge. All within such thin pages." Lifting her head, she smiled at Gajeel, her eyes bright with an inner light. "Books are beautiful!"

_They're not the only thing._

The thought flashed through Gajeel's mind without any real intention on his part, more a feeling than a cohesive sentence. Still, it was cohesive enough that Gajeel's face flushed a bright red. He quickly jerked his head away to avoid notice.

Luckily for him, Levy was too distracted by her new prize to see her companion's unusual skin tone.

Eventually, Gajeel recovered his cool enough to glance again at Levy. She had begun to read the book now, turning pages and walking at the same time. After a moment, he commented, "You're going to trip like that."

"I'm very experienced at this," Levy replied.

_I'll bet you are._ Gajeel shook his head and asked, "Why aren't you using those glasses of yours?" Levy paused and glanced up at him frowning. "You know. The ones that make it possible for you to read ten times faster or whatever it was – What - ?" Gajeel stared down at the finger poking him in the chest and then stared at the blue-haired girl, confused by the sudden change in her expression.

"Books are not meant for rushing through!" Levy's voice was not very loud, but extremely passionate, her eyes shining with a deeper light now. "Those glasses are only for emergencies." She had her finger tucked into the Kemu Zaleon book to mark her page and now pulled the book tight to her. "If possible, I want to be able to sit down and enjoy everything I read. I want to be able to read it over and over again."

"But – why –" Gajeel began, still confused.

"Every single book and every single page in every single book contains something valuable. Even if you're able to read and understand all the words in a book in a short amount of time, that time will never be enough to truly take in that book. To do that, you have to take your time. Read it. Drop it for a while. And come back." Levy withdrew her finger and wrapped her hand around the precious package in her arms.

That little smile was back, Gajeel noted, that sweet, little smile.

"And you'll find something new." She looked up at Gajeel, and he could feel his blush returning. "That's what makes reading so –" For a moment, Levy paused, searching for a word and then grinned, "Magical!"

Gajeel felt his eyes widen.

"You _always_ find something new!"

'_Magical'. 'Something new'. 'Always'._ The words echoed and reechoed in Gajeel's mind, accompanied by pictures – his fights in the past, with past Phantom Lord guildmates and most recently with Natsu. The feeling of blood rushing to his head, of adrenaline pumping through his body – the feeling of giving everything you had without knowing what the result was going to be – because, after all, he had discovered that he could lose.

'_Magical'._

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_Oh shoot. Did I say too much?_ Levy glanced up at Gajeel's face, most of which was hidden by the boxes. _Ah ~_ Levy pressed her hands to her cheeks._ I just got caught up in books again. Ah ~ he probably thinks I'm such a nerd –_

A smile crossed Gajeel's face, and instantly, Levy's cheeks were stained red as her eyes widened in surprise.

"I think I get it."

_Eh?_ Levy blinked up at her tall companion. _What?_

"It's like me and fighting, I guess," Gajeel continued. "Whenever I fight, I know I get a rush – kinda like – I'm flying." He looked down at Levy and grinned. "Is that what you mean?"

_Uh…wah – I don't know. Is it? Oh, he's so cute._ Levy's cheeks flushed even brighter red at that thought, and she could only nod vigorously, halfway between barely having understood Gajeel and being glad that he got what she was saying.

"Still though," Gajeel said as he started to walk again. "Books? Really?"

A nerve went up in Levy. _Is he insulting books?_ She opened her mouth -

"Oh well." Gajeel glanced back at her around the boxes and grinned again. "To each, their own, I guess."

Levy's eyes went wide, the expression planting itself in her memory even as Gajeel turned around and started walking the other way. Flurries of emotion were charging through her now, but they were so rushed and so many that she didn't know what any of them really were.

"Gajeel –" The word slipped from her without any conscious agreement.

The iron dragon slayer glanced back again. "Huh?" He was framed in sunlight, two boxes in his right arm, one in his left. The metal studs in his body reflected light back on his face, giving him a quality that was both ethereal and very, very dangerous.

Her voice caught in her throat. Images of Gajeel taking down Jet and Droy – images of the guild, completely torn up – of her teammates screaming in pain -

_No,_ Levy thought. She ran to catch up with Gajeel, stopping next to him. _No._ Tilting her head up, Levy conjured up a smile and said, "You should let me teach you!"

Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "Teach me?"

"About books!" Then, because some part of her was clamoring for a reason, she added, "So that your only hobby won't be just beating people up."

For a moment, Levy wondered if Gajeel would get offended by the remark. In the end though, Gajeel just grinned again.

"Alright," He agreed. "I'll take that."

Again, all that ran through Levy was surprise and an _Eh? Did he just say –_

"Now come on," Gajeel said, hoisting the boxes as he started to walk again. "Let's get these back to wherever you wanna put them as fast as possible. Even if you like reading, this is really just too much for one haul."

Levy turned up her nose. "I'm sure that you wouldn't say that if it were fighting."

"Well, fighting's different. It's –"

"It's not different! What are you talking about?"

"Fighting's good for you!"

"So's reading!"

"…Not this much."

They stopped in front of Fairy Hills, still in a heated discussion. Gajeel stopped just enough to ask, grudgingly, "Where do you want me to put this?"

"Here is fine," Levy replied. "I'll get someone to help me take it up." She waited until Gajeel had put the boxes down. He was so strong – it would have taken her hours to get that many books back up to her room by herself, and even with Jet and Droy, it might have taken at least two trips. He had managed it in one – and all by himself, too. "Thank you," She said when he was done. "For coming shopping with me. And carrying the books. And walking me back here." She stopped herself before she said something stupid. "Thank you."

Without a word, Gajeel patted her on the head and started to walk back out of the Fairy Hills complex.

Levy watched him go. Something bubbled in her stomach.

* * *

"I'm going to show you!"

Gajeel glanced back. The short blue elf was yelling at him. "Show me what?" He yelled back, playing along.

"Show you how magical books are!"

_That again?_ Gajeel shook his head, but couldn't stop really feel the exasperation that he was acting out. "Alright," He called as he turned again and began to walk. "You do that!"

A smile flitted across his face.

'_Magical', huh?_

__End of "Magical"

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Review and let me know what you think/liked/didn't like!


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